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Summary of the impact

Jennifer Saul's research on sexual harassment in philosophy has received
extensive media coverage. It has influenced practices of philosophy
departments and professional associations, leading to the establishment of
an American Philosophical Association Task Force on Sexual Harassment and
to working groups in various departments. It has played a role in shaping
the best practice guides of the American Philosophical Association and
British Philosophical Association, both in progress. Finally, it has
affected the thinking of many individuals. This research has been
crucially informed by Christopher Bennett's work on mechanisms for
expressing disapproval.

Underpinning research

Women make up only 17% to 24% (roughly) of professional philosophers
worldwide. As part of Jennifer Saul's efforts to understand the causes of
this, she decided that she needed to learn more concerning the nature of
the issues that women face in the discipline. She therefore began
gathering stories of women philosophers' experiences at a blog, What
is it Like to be a Woman in Philosophy?: http://beingawomaninphilosophy.wordpress.com/.
This blog was founded in October 2010, and receives up to 25,000 hits per
day. The stories gathered have helped to demonstrate vividly the
significance of the problem of sexual harassment for women in philosophy.
They have also shaped Saul's thinking on the subject and they play a key
role in the central argument of her paper [R1 below].

Since 2011 Saul has been working on a paper concerning sexual harassment
in philosophy, based on insights gained from running the blog, and it has
been presented in three different countries. It was first presented as a
paper in June 2012 in Valencia, and has also been presented as an invited
paper at Birkbeck, Reading and Oxford. It was presented in June 2013 at an
international conference on Diversity in Philosophy at the University of
Dayton, USA. From 2011 on, Saul discussed the arguments of the paper
widely with colleagues around the world. It has been accepted by the Journal
of Applied Philosophy.

This paper argues for two claims: (1) That those attempting to deal with
cases of sexual harassment in the real world have been excessively
focussed on formal claims procedures as a response; and (2) That
philosophers working on the topic of sexual harassment have been
excessively focussed on the definition of `sexual harassment'. This paper
also draws heavily on Christopher Bennett's work [R2 below] on informal
mechanisms for sanctioning wrongdoers. Bennett argues that `the withdrawal
of civility and solidarity' can be a powerful means by which a community
symbolises its attitude toward wrongdoers. This idea underpins the
informal approach that Saul argues has been wrongly neglected by those
seeking to deal with this problem, and thus Bennett's work has had an
indirect influence on the debate.

References to the research

R1. Jennifer Saul: `Stop Thinking (So Much) About `Sexual Harassment"',
paper presented at the Birkbeck, Reading, Oxford and Valencia Universities
and at the international conference Diversity in Philosophy at the
University of Dayton, USA. Forthcoming in the Journal of Applied
Philosophy.

Indications of quality:

• Paper given as keynote at Oxford Graduate Philosophy Conference. Paper
given as invited departmental seminar speaker at Birkbeck, Reading, Oxford
and Valencia. (Saul has also been invited to present it at Notre Dame
University, USA, in January 2014, for which Notre Dame is flying her to
the United States.)

• Paper accepted via a process of anonymous peer review for international
conference Diversity in Philosophy.

• Paper accepted via a process of anonymous review by the Journal of
Applied Philosophy, the leading journal for applied philosophy.

• Philosophical Quarterly is one of the leading philosophy
journals in the world, and practices anonymous review.

Details of the impact

Saul's work on this subject has reached large audiences due to the blog What
is it Like to be a Woman in Philosophy? (up to 25,000 hits/day);
Saul's talks to Philosophy Departments on the topic; and Saul's
discussions of her work with philosophers around the world. [text removed for publication].
Moreover, the impact is also beginning to reach beyond
Philosophy, via international media attention.

Impact on practices in Philosophy

The British Philosophical Association is in the process of producing
Best Practice Guidelines, where Saul's work is playing a central role in
shaping the guidelines on sexual harassment and relationships with
students.

The American Philosophical Association has founded a task force on
Sexual Harassment in Philosophy, where Saul was a consultant on the
founding of this task force. [S3]

The American Philosophical Association is setting up a program of site
visits to improve the climate for women in philosophy departments. This
program makes use of both Saul's blog and her paper. The program's
Director writes: `Site visit team members are able to refer to the
anonymous accounts on Jennifer Saul's blog without needing to point to
particular department members in the particular departments being
visited. For instance, I recently was invited to give a keynote
address entitled, "Women in Philosophy: Why so Few?" at a large U.S.
philosophy department. As part of this presentation I devoted several
PowerPoint slides to a case described on Jennifer Saul's blog. When
talking about how best to respond to sexual harassment, I was also
able to reference Jennifer Saul's paper on sexual harassment.'
[S2]

The American Philosophical Association is drawing up best practice
guidelines on sexual harassment, making extensive use of Saul's work,
which is quoted repeatedly in the current drafts of these guidelines and
which has been cited as crucial to their development. [S3]

As a result of What is it Like to Be a Woman in Philosophy?,
many departments have instituted initiatives related to the climate for
women. For example, Rutgers University Philosophy Department has founded
a Climate Committee, runs regular Climate Surveys, and is starting a
programme of ally training. [S4]

Scores of individuals have contacted Saul to note the effect of her
work on their thinking. Two examples:

A Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Buffalo, USA: `I have been a
long-time reader of your blog "What It is Like to Be a Woman in
Philosophy." Its frequent stories about sexual harassment in
philosophy have horrified me. I believe I have consequently become
more alert to signs of sexual harassment. I cannot say that I have
prevented or remediated any cases of harassment. But I hope that my
heightened awareness of its possibility will contribute to reducing
its occurrence in philosophy.' [S1]

[text removed for publication]

Impact outside philosophy

Saul's work on sexual harassment is shaping the thought of equality
professionals, leading to more attention to early intervention rather
than only to after-the-fact responses to what have become very serious
situations. The Equalities Adviser at Leicester University writes: `[Saul's]
paper provides the most practical proposals I have come across. In my
experience by the time I have been involved the damage is well and
truly done. What [she is] offering are real ways in which most of us,
despite our embarrassment or other fears, can still put into practice.'

Saul has been consulted on a movie script, in which the lead character
is a woman philosopher.

Saul's work has received extensive media coverage, often in very
prominent places. An interview with Saul (conducted in July 2013) about
this work appeared on the front page of the New York Times [S6].
Two interviews with Saul have appeared in Inside Higher Ed, and
she has also been interviewed by the Times Higher Education
Supplement [S7] and the Chronicle of Higher Education. The
blog What is it Like to be a Woman in Philosophy? has been
discussed on the websites Gawker (a popular culture blog) [S8]
and Jezebel (a leading feminist blog) [S9].

Given the breadth of their audiences and the size of readership, it is
clear that Saul's work is impacting on non-philosophers.

Sources to corroborate the impact

S1. Professor of Philosophy, SUNY Buffalo (impact on own thinking and
actions)

S2. Director of APA's program of site visits, University of Dayton (on
use in Site Visit Program)